Washington : US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton formally opened the first direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians in nearly two years on Thursday, imploring the parties to ignore the long history of failed negotiations and make needed compromises to forge an agreement. At a ceremony in the State Department’s ornate Benjamin [...]
Louisiana : An oil platform exploded and caught fire off the Louisiana coast on Thursday triggering fears of a repeat of the BP Deep Horizon oil spill in the same region earlier this year. All 13 crew members aboard the platform were rescued. The Coast Guard initially reported that an oil sheen a mile long [...]
Baku : Azerbaijan’s president rose what authorities have described as the world’s largest flag in the capital, Baku. Ilham Aliyev hoisted the massive banner after inaugurating the new National Flag Square in the capital on Wednesday. Local authorities said the flag, measuring 70 by 35 metres (230 by 115 feet), was hoisted on the world’s [...]
Jerusalem : Simon Wiesenthal, a Holocaust survivor who gained worldwide fame for decades as a one-man Nazi-hunting operation, was in fact frequently on the payroll of the Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, a new biography asserts. The assertion, based on numerous documents and interviews with three people said to be Mr. Wiesenthal’s Mossad handlers, not only [...]
Paris : French fast food chain Quick has begun serving halal-only food in 22 of its outlets, targeting France’s large Muslim population, an underexploited market that has long been ignored by big business. The company – the number two burger chain in France after McDonald’s – says its offerings are being tailored to meet the [...]
London :- Former British premier Tony Blair describes Manmohan Singh as “the wonderful Indian Prime Minister” in his best-selling memoirs titled ‘My Journey’. Blair, who interacted with Singh on several occasions during his tenure as the British prime minister from 1997 to 2007, says that Singh had advised him that Britain could not afford [...]
Terming the floods in Pakistan as “worst humanitarian crisis”, the country’s Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has called on the world community to come its help in dealing with the situation. Mr. Qureshi, who is on a trip to Oman to explain to the region’s leadership of the extent of damage caused by the flood [...]
Washington : Police shot dead a gunman to safely free three persons ending hours of standoff after he had taken them as hostages at the Discovery Channel headquarters in the suburb of Silver Spring. The gunman has been identified as James Lee who was against the programmes shown by the channel, police said, adding he [...]
New York : Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin on Wednesday asked citizens to smoke and drink more, saying that higher consumption would help lift tax revenues for spending on social services. “If you smoke a pack of cigarettes, that means you are giving more to help solve social problems such as boosting demographics, developing other [...]
Islamabad : The banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan on late Wednesday claimed responsibility for three blasts, including two carried out by suicide attackers, on a Shia procession in Lahore that killed 29 people and injured over 200. The claim of responsibility was made by top Taliban leader Qari Hussain, who said militants had carried out three suicide [...]
UN official: BlackBerry data requests legitimate
Sony’s ‘Readers’ now slimmer and lighter
Apple launches cheaper iPods, Web-to-TV device
Can BlackBerry continue in India? Decision likely today
Apple patents a desktop touch-screen computer
An easy way to share iPhone photos online
Intel to buy McAfee for $ 7.68 bn